You say goodbye, I say hello (Cali, Colombia)

After spending two weeks in the modern city of Medellin, two days in the picturesque tourist town of Guatape with my pals Leticia and Will, one more goodbye, and an overnight bus ride, I arrived to the city of Cali, in the south of Colombia. And tonight i will be off once more on an overnight bus to the border town of Ipiales.

I've met a cool Mexican-American guy, Alex or Alejandro as he would now like to be called as he proudly reclaims his birth name and his Latino roots. We have bonded quickly over talks of cultural identity, traveling, personal growth, and one specific scene from the movie Selena that we both hold dear to us. As well I've bumped into Kwinton who I briefly knew from Medellin. The three of us take off to the equator.

I am also on my way to meet up with my French friend Jimmy who I travelled with a few weeks back. It's cool to have friends in different parts of Latin America that I just meet up with here and there, arriving into one town,into one hostel to find a familiar face. No initial questions of where are you from, etc, etc, etc. But a How the heck are you, instead.

On the night bus the other night, a woman and her two young kids said goodbye to her husband/dad and they all cried. I felt for them. On my multiple goodbyes that I've had in the last year, I understand.

So goodbye for now Colombia, there a chance of my return. Theres a chance i will bump into Leticia again after the new year, once she moves on from Colombia, and theres a chance i meet up with Alejandro again in Quito for Christmas, as he will settle down there and volunteer at a hostel.

As David says, my pal in Medellin that I never got the chance to formally say goodbye to, it's more like a see you later, see you in another country...